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Blake Langermann
Blake Langermann is the unseen protagonist of Outlast 2 and the first with a speaking role in the overall series. Together with his wife Lynn, they go to investigate the murder of a pregnant woman in Supai, Arizona, with Blake acting as the cameraman and Lynn as the reporter. Background As a child, Blake Langermann attended a Catholic school with Lynn and Jessica Gray, both of whom he was very close to. Blake has multiple flashbacks to his childhood, specifically one memory where he was playing hide and seek with Jessica after school, where they're caught by Father Loutermilch and Blake is forced to leave whilst Jessica is "lectured". Blake returns upon hearing her scream, and finds her bloodied, mangled corpse on the stairs, neck broken. It's implied Loutermilch killed Jessica and forced Blake to keep quiet and help him cover it up as a suicide, crippling him with guilt for the rest of his life. Story ''Outlast 2'' Decades later, Blake is a cameraman who works alongside his journalist wife, Lynn. The pair are investigating the murder of a young pregnant woman who has yet to be identified. The Jane Doe victim investigation ends up with the pair crash-landing in their helicopter in the Supai region of the Sonoran desert in Arizona. Blake is separated from Lynn and must find his way back to her, all the while exploring a village in a rural area where the residents are concerned that the end of days is finally upon them. While looking for Lynn, Blake finds the helicopter pilot skinned, gutted and tied up at a tree limb, proving Blake and Lynn are in incredible danger. A fleet of hostile villagers encroach on Blake and try to kill him before he's reunited with his wife. Lynn has become entangled with the self-described prophet Sullivan Knoth, who insists that Lynn is pregnant with Blake's child, describing it as the Anti-Christ. Thus begins a town-wide manhunt to track down Lynn and kill her before the child can be born. The resulting clash between two cults, one with Christian beliefs and the other with Satanic leanings, ends up with Lynn being taken away and Blake being left to find her and continue to investigate Temple Gate. It turns out that the pregnant woman who was murdered was the daughter of Ethan, a follower of Knoth, who was sexually abused and impregnated by the preacher. Ethan kindly houses Blake, claiming to be too traumatized by the horrors of Temple Gate to keep the faith anymore, but is slain a few hours into Blake's rest by Knoth's enforcer Marta. Blake is chased throughout the town into Temple Gate's main chapel, where he watches in secret the horrific interrogation of two Heretics who finally confess to Knoth that Lynn is being kept in the mines, giving Blake a new objective. On his way there, Blake falls off a bridge and is abducted by a dwarf archer named Laird and his partner/mount named Nick, the two leaders of the Scalled outcasts. Blake is anointed the "Scalled Messiah", and Laird insists on "rebirthing" Blake through crucifixion and being buried alive. Against all odds, Blake escapes both hazards and escapes the forest. By now, his hallucinations of his childhood grow incredibly vivid, nightmarish, and more intense, and by the end Blake has been driven completely insane by his guilt over Jessica's fate. He still powers on, however, finally reaching a lift down into the mines where Lynn is being kept by the Heretics. Hunted throughout the caverns by the Heretics and their leader Val, Blake finally finds a heavily pregnant Lynn, only to get trapped in a disgusting blood orgy interrupted by the Testament, who slaughter the Heretics and chase the Langermanns out of the mines into a thunderstorm. They seek refuge at the chapel where Lynn gives birth to their child and immediately dies of shock, her lasts words being, "There's nothing there". Blake breaks down crying and passes out with the baby in his arms, awakening to Knoth announcing that he's had the entire town killed due to their failure at stopping the birth and begging Blake to kill the child before slitting his own throat. Blake, with his baby in a swathe, walks through the horrific, ravaged remains of Temple Gate before the sun seems to consume the entire planet, just as Knoth had predicted with the birthing of "the Anti-Christ". The "apocalypse" Blake had witnessed, as well as the nightmarish flashbacks to his childhood, were all just hallucinations induced by the Murkoff Corporation's local Radio Towers. ''Outlast: The Murkoff Account'' Several hours after the massacre at Temple Gate, Pauline Glick and several other Murkoff agents investigate the aftermath. Two agents in Hazmat suits discover a man still breathing, albeit in a catatonic state, and drag him out of a small shed. Pauline quickly realizes that the man is in fact Blake, and immediately orders the agents to take him away for brutal questioning. Notably, Lynn's child is nowhere to be found. Personality Blake is a completely average man twisted by guilt over Jessica's death, endlessly and vividly haunted by it despite it happening decades ago. He is passionately dedicated to his wife, willing to do go through absolute hell just to save her. It can be theorized that his failure to save Jessica is what motivates his obsessive want to succeed in saving Lynn instead. He even accidentally calls Lynn "Jess" more times than once, and by the end of the game doesn't even bother correcting himself, as if Lynn is Jessica to him. Otherwise, he's a devout Catholic and a very respectful, polite man to Ethan even after his death, but is above all else, indomitably willed and determined. He also gains a sarcastic attitude towards his situation, consistently making snarky quips similar to Miles. His recordings eventually devolve into insane, nonsensical ramblings, however, making it clear that his sanity is almost nonexistent by the end of the game - he even starts talking like a child (referring to the authorities as "grown-ups", for example). Blake’s faith in god and religion are not fully explored. The fact that he went to a Catholic school seems to have little effect on his personality as an adult, aside from repeating a saying that his teacher told him about the music of birds being proof God loves the world. It’s unlikely going to a religious school like St. Sybil was Blake’s choice given his young age and having a negative viewpoint on Christian role models like Loutermilch who sexually abused and murdered his close friend. Blake is undoubtedly shaken by the many horrific acts he witnessed traversing Temple Gate in the cult’s name of God, both committed by the Testament and the Heretics. He develops a deriding attitude towards their faith, often making sarcastic comments and once referencing to Marta as “your God” showing he considers the cult’s perception of the Almighty differs from what Blake believes Him to be due to their fanatic beliefs and monstrous actions in the name of God opposed to the compassionate and loving deity he was taught about when he was young. After Ethan’s death, though Blake hopes he and his daughter find each other, displaying his belief in the afterlife. By the end, Blake gains an absolute perspective of the cult war between Heretics and the Testament claiming that “loving and hating God is the same thing”. Physical description Blake is a well-built adult man with fair skin. Although his adult face is never seen, he wears glasses to correct his sight disorder (possibly myopia), and there are photos seen throughout the school of him as a child. Laird also describes him as "a man full grown yet virginal, most beautiful and fair above even the beauty of women", though this should be taken lightly thanks to the insanity of Laird. In Murkoff Account's Epilogue, Blake's face is very briefly seen, revealing that he has fairly medium to short messy black hair with a fringe. Langermann sports a green, rolled, zipped up hooded jacket over a light grey sweater, where he stores his batteries for the camcorder and bandages for medical attention, an analog watch around his left wrist, dark tan pants, and black combat boots. After the helicopter crash, the sleeves of his jacket and pants become greatly torn, exposing the sustained cuts and bruises, along with the glass on his watch being shattered, rendering it useless. Upon being captured by Laird, Blake is crucified with hammer and nails, in a similar manner to Jesus Christ, leaving holes in both of his hands which are then covered by bandages. Abilities Blake is capable of athletic feats similarly to Miles Upshur and Waylon Park, from maneuvering across obstacles to escaping from fast enemies. He is also able to slide while running. In comparison to Miles and Waylon, Blake's stamina isn't as impressive, resulting in Blake becoming exhausted quicker. Blake's agility however, is much better than theirs as he's able to run significantly faster than them. He seems to be capable of holding his breath for a decent time underwater and flexible enough to hide within a small barrel. Blake can restore his health by bandaging his wounds. This, however, takes a few seconds and can be disrupted by nearby enemies. He however is still strong enough to push down a rotten tree after just recently being crucified. Trivia *His online screen-name, BlakeAgainstTheMachine, is a reference to the American rock band Rage Against the Machine. *Blake's wristwatch contains the initials "RB" which is an abbreviation of Red Barrels. *Blake's glasses do not cast a shadow since his silhouette is the same one used for the previous two protagonists. *A few unused files are labeled as "asthma". This might explain Blake's earlier running mechanic featured in the playable demo, as he would frequently run out of stamina. References Navigation es:Blake Langermann ru:Блэйк Лангерманн fr:Blake Langermann Category:Characters Category:Outlast 2 characters Category:Murkoff Account Characters Category:Playable characters